I am a Designer :)
Looking Back
Twelve weeks ago during the introduction round in our first class of “Design Thinking for Social Innovation, when asked why I chose this course, I answered:
“Because the human aspect for me is missing in management, especially in Management Studies. Yes, as managers we are leading people. However, they are too rarely our main priority. The success of the company takes centre stage.”
I attended this course because I wanted to get another perspective. I wanted to learn how else to do it. How to do it differently, but at best just as successfully. Fast forward to today, I know how important it is to put people at the centre of our work. Success depends on the people with whom you achieve or experience it.
Should Managers design or decide?
One discussion that best reflects my thoughts of why I decided to take this class, is the one about having a decision attitude vs adopting a design attitude, which we had towards the end of our 12-week-class schedule.
When we were discussing the future of design thinking and having my experience of the work we did on our project within the past weeks in mind, I was nothing but sure that even better outcomes can be achieved if design attitudes are adopted by managers, or decision-makers in general. Not just because it is “trendy”, but also — to speak in management terms — it can provide companies with a competitive advantage. But to get there, I think there needs to be a shift in how management is perceived. There needs to be a change from “Let’s get things done” to “Let’s do it right and thoughtfully.” Design Thinking can be a longer process than decision-making and therefore requires more resources. Time, however, as the main resource, is rare in the fast-paced business world.
To conclude, introducing design thinking into decision-making processes puts people at the centre stage, involves them in the process and eventually creates an outcome that serves people as well as the economic success of a business.
Designing as a Team
After completing this course, I now know that Design Thinking is not just any way of doing things. It is a special and fun way of working and a way to achieve great things. It also is all about collaboration. Design Thinking to me is not a “one-(wo)man-show” but a collective effort. The more ideas come together, the more creativity flows around, and the better the outcome can become.
For me, collaboration within this course has two dimensions, the one being the work with my team, and the other being how as a team we worked together with Mercy, our consultant from Lisbon Project.
Learning by Doing
The collaboration with my team on the project but also all the other group compositions I have been in throughout the course have proven again how much I enjoy working with other people. Whether it was building a tower of LEGO without talking or decorating dogs for a battle. There was never one activity where I did not enjoy working with the others.
For me, the work on the project in cooperation with the Lisbon Project, was a typical Learning by Doing experience. While I am of course speaking of my own experience here and reflecting on my perception of things, I would still say that as a team, at some point we were a bit lost about where we should go with our project and how Design Thinking can guide us through it. However, we found our way and got back on track, mainly, because Design Thinking entails a well-laid-out process. Of course, there is a lot of going back and forth between phases, but overall you can’t really take a wrong turn if you just follow the flow. I am a person who values structure and likes to have everything planned out. While the first need is very much satisfied by the Design Thinking process, as it provides clear guidance, I have been somewhat struggling with the second. Getting feedback, then iterating again, then gathering new feedback and so on, does not go along with having a distinct plan because feedback can always come as a surprise. I think that this reflects one of my main learnings this semester. One does not always need to have a distinct plan, sometimes things just work out the way they are supposed to. This also occurs to be true in the case of our group work. As I am writing this reflection on the morning of exhibition day, I am really excited and looking forward to being able to present what we, together as a team, have achieved over the past three months.
Working WITH others NOT FOR them
Collaboration by definition means “the action of working with someone to produce something”. By working together with Mercy for me emphasis was even more put on the WITH. We developed an idea and improved it. All of this by involving a person who is actually affected by the outcome we were going to produce. I am certain, that Mercy was the most valuable, raw, and honest Team member I have ever worked with. I was astonished by how openly she shared her story with us, not knowing us at all, and how she never held back from answering any questions or giving us insights and feedback when we asked for it. We did this project WITH her, not FOR her. Further reflecting on my experience of the collaboration with Mercy, I think we ventured into purposefully designing something, as was mentioned in the reading “The call for trauma-informed design research and practice”. All of us were very compassionate with each other, ethically conscious of Mercy’s cultural background and of how everything we did could impact her environment.
The Final Showcase
After reflecting on this semester, which passed by in the blink of an eye, I am now even more excited to one last time see what everyone has achieved during the course. Now, as quickly as this semester, also the time passed in which I am writing this reflection. Now I will get ready, pack our prototype and make my way to Uni for the Final Exhibition.
Thank you AL and Beatriz for letting me have such a lovely experience in this course!
